If giv'n the choice
'Tween Pain and Fear,
I'll opt for Pain.
I've journeyed with them both...

While promising safe harbor
In the Sea of Great Uncertainty,
Fear led me silently
Into a barren bay.
The sanctuary wasn't safety -
But a jail.

Fear isolated me
Not just from Pain.
He isolated me from Life.
When his deceit
Was finally clear to me
I realized I'd been his prey.

Fear's great appeal
Had not been loud and brash
As one might first expect
From one who seeks to dominate.
But rather was a gentle,
Calming voice which lulled me
Into that which wasn't good for me -
But only good for Fear.
Fear doesn't brutalize his prey.
He just sits idly
Watching as it suffocates -
Then dies.

I broke away from Fear,
Returning to the Sea
Of Great Uncertainty.
I once again met Pain.

While Fear had travelled
All alone,
Pain travels with a crowd.
He's sometimes seen with Risk
And Growth, and frequently
With Love.
But while I used to think
He aways travelled with Despair,
I've come to realize they
Never were that close at all.

While Pain will never be
Someone I'll like
Just for himself,
I've learned that when I run from him
I also leave his friends behind.
They're my friends, too.
They're good for me.

(I like it best, of course,
When I'm with them
And Pain's nowhere around.)